Space Forum / Space Flight / July 2004

  I'm playing with fantasy rockets for science fiction scenarios, and
  I'm looking for some typical figures for rockets. What would you say
  was a reasonable number for the following?
# volume flow rate

Afternoon all.
The current foremost contender for the X-Prize is, of course, Scaled
Composites - expected to formally announce soon, I believe - which uses
a staged flight method, with horizontal takeoff and landing.

Check out this article:
http://www.e4engineering.com/story.aspx?nid=tsj5d&id=217987
Apparently, some researchers have found a way to turn pure Zirconium
into a bulk metallic glass by using tremendous pressure. Right now, it

I'm up on the Space Station and I go out for a nice little space walk.  I
take along my specially designed hunting rifle and fire a bullet down at the
planet.  What would the bullet need to be made of for it to make it all the
way to the surface and not burn up on entry to our ...

How are thermal protection systems tested on the ground?  By directing
superheated air at various temperatures, pressures, and durations to
simulate a re-entry environment?

In one of those moments of conceptual flux, I wondered if it would be
feasible, using today's existing materials, to developp a
zero-propellant orbital plane change capable satellite. (Emphasis on
the word -propellant-, not -energy- ;-P)

Hey guys,
I've been lurking for a while due to trying to get my thesis done and other
things, but I had a quick question for the board.  I already sent email to
Henry and George, but figured I'd put it out for others too.  

A lot of discussion on this and other groups orbits around
the difficulty is scaling SS1 to an orbital vehicle.
There has been a lot of discussion about Mr Rutan's skills when one transfers from
subsonic airplanes to hypersonice space vehicles.

A while ago I saw an idea for an "Airship To Space" on JP Aerospace's website.
How does this work?  They mentioned using electric rockets which have very low
thrust.

I have two questions to ask:
1- Is it possible to have a satellite orbit parallel to the equatorial
plane?  Something like a GEO orbit but shifted up or down to cover
other locations of the earth futher up from the equator.  Such an

Titan is unique among all the planetary moons in having a dense
atmosphere. This atmosphere has a number of unusual characteristics
that it shares with Earth's atmosphere, and which I think are
consistent with it being biogenic.

I'm just an average person with an English degree, so I'm unfamiliar
with the science and physics and space craft reentry, so this is
likely a very stupid question.
But it's my uneducated understanding that returning space craft, like

Some months ago I reconsidered an old idea of mine about a different
way to go to space. I still believe it might work. But feel free to
tell me why you reckon it won't. Or maybe you have an idea how to use
this concept better/simpler/more economical?

Suppose you have a high-altitude rocket nozzle: It expands the flow to
<< 1 psi at exit.  Now suppose you want to light this thing off on the
ground.  You have an overexpanded nozzle, and you may get unpredictable
flow seperation and you will get Isp losses from the flow to ambient

In reading Spacex's on line documents/updates
I read that the RP-1 and LOX tanks share a common bulkhead.
How do you keep the RP1 from turning to wax at LOX temperatures?
Even if this bulkhead is insulated, how do you keep the common Al outer tank wall from